The Affordable Care Act Needs To Cover Vasectomies – Help Make It Happen!

In honor of the third World Vasectomy Day, Male Contraception Initiative and World Vasectomy Day are petitioning the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to include vasectomies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This petition will complement the thousands of vasectomies being organized over the globe in this single day, Nov. 13.

While the ACA requires insurers to fully cover all female contraceptives without co-pay, it omits male contraceptives entirely. Ignoring half the population when it comes to family planning makes no sense. This blunder needs immediate correction.

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The average condom user experiences an annual 1 in 6 pregnancy rate. Vasectomy is by far a better option for men who are done having children.

World Vasectomy Day organizer Jonathan Stack explains why he co-founded World Vasectomy Day:

Along the road I became inspired to support the bigger mission, dreaming up World Vasectomy Day as way to celebrate the men who get vasectomies, their families, and partners who support them.

Last year, on World Vasectomy Day 2014, 500 doctors in 32 countries perform an estimated 3,000 vasectomies, making the day the largest male-oriented family planning event in history.

World Vasectomy Day will kick off in Indonesia this year, but it will still be streamed live for everyone at the organization’s website. The sponsoring organizations are asking everyone who believes in family planning to celebrate the day by watching the stream live and to sign the petition to cover vasectomies under the Affordable Care Act.

Aaron Hamlin, MPH, Esq., is the executive director of Male Contraception Initiative, a nonprofit that builds public support for new male contraceptives and pushes for their availability.